He also said: “Our shaykh Ibn al-Akhḍar (1) informed me that he had seen a manuscript of the Gharīb in the handwriting of its author, and at the end of it was written: ‘Written by Muḥammad ibn ʿUzayr—with an undotted rāʾ.’
Abū Zakariyyā al-Tibrīzī added: “I saw it in Ibn ʿUzayr’s own script, and above the letter was the mark indicating a plain, un-pointed rāʾ.” (2)
As for al-Dāraquṭnī, the ḥāfiẓ ʿAbd al-Ghanī, al-Khaṭīb, and Ibn Mākūlā, they declared: “ʿAzīz—with two dotted letters; Muḥammad ibn ʿUzayr is the author of the Gharīb.” (3)
After authorities of such stature, who can be completely safe from error? (4)
Ibn ʿUzayr lived on until roughly 330 AH.
81 – Ibn al-Ikhshīd, Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī ibn Bayghjūr *
The eminent scholar, master instructor, and shaykh of the Muʿtazilites, Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī ibn Bayghjūr al-Ikhshīd (5), author of numerous works.
(1) ʿAbd al-ʿAziz b. Mahmud b. al-Mubarak b. al-Akhdar, known as al-Janabidhi and later al-Baghdadi, was the leading hadith scholar of Iraq in his day. Originally from Janabidh, a village near Nisabur, he compiled several valuable collections and was regarded as reliable. Ibn al-Najjar accompanied him for a long period and studied under him. He died in 611 AH/1214 CE. A detailed biography appears in Shadharāt al-Dhahab, vol. 5, pp. 46–47.
(2) Nuzhat al-Albāʾ, p. 215.
(3) See al-Ikmāl, vol. 7, p. 5.
(4) Ibn Hajar al-ʿAsqalani preferred to spell the name with two zayn letters and devoted several pages to refuting those who wrote it with a dotted rāʾ. See Tabsir al-Mutanabbih, vol. 3, pp. 948–950. Principal sources: al-Fihrist, pp. 245–246; Taʾrīkh Baghdād, vol. 4, p. 309; al-Wāfī bi-l-Wafayāt, vol. 7, p. 216; Ṭabaqāt al-Muʿtazila, p. 100; Lisān al-Mīzān, vol. 1, p. 231.
(5) Lisān al-Mīzān, vol. 1, p. 231, records the name as Ibn al-Akhshād and notes that he is also called Ibn al-Akhshīd.